A Farewell to Kate
by Dima02
Summary: Based on Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Kate and Humphrey are living peaceful and happy lives together in Jasper. Kate is expecting her pups, and everyone is ebullient. But then, tragedy strikes... One-shot with exactly 6000 words!


A Farewell to Kate

Humphrey's POV

We had a fine life—Kate and I. We lived through the months of January and February and the winter was fine and we were very happy. There had been short thaws when the wind blew warm the snow softened and the air felt like spring, but always the clear hard cold had come again and the winter had returned. In March came the first break in the winter. In the night it started raining. It rained on all morning and turned the snow to slush and made the mountain-side dismal. There were clouds over the lake and over the valley. It was high up the mountain. Kate and I both grew heavy winter coats, and we walked outside the valley, through the slush and the running water that was washing the ice of the trails bare, to hunt for food. We could hear the rain falling around us.

"Do you think we ought to move closer to the river?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Kate asked.

"If the winter is over and the rain keeps up it won't be fun up here in the mountains. How long is it before young Kate?"

"About two weeks. Perhaps a little more."

"We might go down and stay near the river."

"We don't we go to Banff? That's where the veterinarian hospital is. The vet's dog, I heard, is really amiable to wolves and is adroit with deliveries."

"When should we go?"

"I don't care. Whenever you want, Kate. I don't want to leave here if you don't want."

"Let's see how the weather turns out."

It rained for three days. The snow was all gone. The trail was a torrent of muddy snow-water. It was too wet and slushy to go out. On the morning of the third day of rain, we decided to go to Banff.

We took the Canadian Express train to Banff from Jasper. Looking out the window toward where we had lived you could not see the mountains for the clouds. Garth and Lilly waved goodbye to us; they were having their pups too, but later than Kate. We came into Banff and went into a medium-sized den to stay. The opening of the cave looked out on a wet garden with a cliff topped by a wooden fence. Across the trail, which sloped steeply, was another den with a similar wall and garden.

We stayed at that den one week. It was not bad; we frequently walked besides the lake. The weather became quite warm and it was like spring. We wished we were back in the mountains but the spring weather lasted only a few days and them the cold rawness of the breaking-up of winter came again.

Sometimes, Kate and I went for walks out in the mountains. It was nice to walk when the days were pleasant and we found two good places to hunt. Kate couldn't walk or hunt very well now, but I loved hunting with her by my side. When there was a good day we had a splendid time and we never went hungry. We knew the pups were very close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something was hurrying us and we could not lose any time together.

One morning I awoke before dawn hearing Kate stirring in the den.

"All you all right, Kate?"

"I've been having some pains, darling."

"Regularly?"

"No, not very."

"If you have them at all regularly, we'll go the vet."

I was very sleepy and went back to sleep. A little while later, I woke again.

"Maybe you'd better visit the vet's dog," Kate said. "I think maybe this is it. Young Kate must be coming."

I ran down to the vet's hospital and found the dog asleep in his doghouse. He was a big grey Siberian Husky with a kind face and a coarse voice. Wolves, dogs, and coyotes shared the same language. I briefed him on the situation. "How often are the pains coming?" he asked. I didn't know the answer, so I led him back to the den.

The dog ran with me back to our den. "How often are they coming, Kate?"

"I should think every quarter of an hour."

"You should go to the hospital, then," the Husky said. "I will go there right away myself."

I slowly led Kate out of the cave and down the slopes to the hospital. The night was clear and the starts were out. Kate was very excited.

"I'm so glad it's started," she said. "Now in a little while it will be all over."

"You're a good brave girl."

At the vet hospital, the lights were still off. The humans were still asleep in their homes. A German Shepherd, probably the Husky's mate, was waiting for us.

"I'll take you up to your room," she said. We went up the stairs and followed her down a hall. Kate held tightly to my leg.

"This is the room," the Shepherd said. "Will you please get into bed?"

Kate lay on the narrow examination bed. She smiled at me.

"I'm having fine pains now," she said. The German Shepherd was holding her wrist and timing the pains.

"That was a big one," Kate said. I saw it on her face.

"Where's your mate—the Siberian Husky?" I asked the Shepherd.

"He's lying down sleeping. He'll be here when he is needed."

"I must do something for Madame, now," the Shepherd said. "Would you please step out?"

I went out into the hall. It was a bare hall with two windows and closed doors all down the corridor. It smelled of human odors and cats. I sat on one chair and looked at the floor and prayed for Kate.

"You can come in," the German Shepherd said. I went in.

"Hello, darling," Kate said.

"How is it?"

"They are coming quiet often now." Her face drew up. Then she smiled.

"You go away, darling," Kate said. "Go out and get something to eat. I may do this for a long time, according to the German Shepherd."

"The first labor is usually protracted," the German Shepherd said.

"Please go out and get something to eat," Kate said. "I'm fine, really."

"I'll stay awhile," I said.

The pains came quite regularly and then slackened off. Kate was very excited. When the pains were bad she called them good ones. When they started to fall off, she was disappointed and ashamed.

"You go out, darling," she said. "I think you are just making me self-conscious." Her face tied up. "There. That was better. I so want to be a good mate and have this child without any foolishness. Please go and get some breakfast, darling, and them come back. I won't miss you. German Shepherd is splendid to me."

"You have plenty of time for breakfast," the German Shepherd said.

"I'll go then. Good-by, sweet."

"Good-by, Kate said, "and have a fine breakfast for me too."

"Where can I get breakfast?" I asked the German Shepherd.

"There's a forest down the street," she said, "there are plenty of things like squirrels and berries."

Outside it was getting light. I walked down the empty street to the forest. I went in and found an old coyote who was willing to share his kill with me.

"What do you do at this hour?" the old coyote asked.

"My mate is in labor at the hospital."

"So, I wish you good luck."

I tore a chunk of flesh from the dead peccary, thanked the coyote, and went out.

I went up the stairs in the hospital to the floor Kate was on and down the hall to her room. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I opened the door; the room was empty, except for the narrow bed. I went out and down the hall, looking for someone. I found the German Shepherd dog.

"Where is Madame Kate?"

"She has just gone to the delivery room."

"Where is it?"

"I will show you."

She took me down to the end of the hall. The door of the room was partly open. I could see Kate lying on a table, covered by a sheet. The Siberian Husky was on one side, and on the other side were some cylinders labeled "Nitrous Oxide". Dr. Husky held a rubber mask attached to a tube in one paw.

"You can go in," the German Shepherd said.

"Hello, darling," Kate said in a strained voice. "I'm not doing much."

"Your name is Mr. Humphrey, right?" the Husky asked.

"Yes. How is everything going, doctor?"

"Things are going very well," the Husky said, "We came in here where it is easy to give gas for the pains. I've watched my owner do it, and it's easy to do."

"I want it now," Kate said. The Husky placed the rubber mask over her muzzle and turned a dial and I watched Kate breathing deeply and rapidly. Then she pushed the mask away. The Husky shut off the petcock.

"That wasn't a very big one. I had a very big one a while ago. Dr. Husky made me go clear out, didn't you, doctor?" Her voice was strange. It rose on the word doctor.

The Husky smiled.

"I want it again," Kate said. She held the rubber right to her muzzle and breathed fast. I heard her moaning a little. Then she pulled the mask away and smiled.

"That was a big one," she said. "That was a very big one. Don't you worry, darling. You go away. Go have another breakfast."

"I'll stay," I said.

We had gone to the hospital at about three in the morning. At noon Kate was still in the delivery room. The pains had slackened again, but she looked very tired and worn now but she was still cheerful.

"I'm not any good, darling," she said. "I'm so sorry. I thought I would do it very easily. Now—there's one" she reached out her paw for the mask and held it over her face. The Husky moved the dial and watched her. In a little while it was over.

"It wasn't much," Kate said quickly. She smiled. "I'm a fool about the gas. It's wonderful."

"We'll get some for the home," I said.

"_There one comes_," Kate said quickly. The Husky turned the dial and looked at his watch.

"What is the interval now?" I asked.

"About a minute."

"Don't you want lunch?"

"I will have something pretty soon. My owner is probably waiting for me at home," he said.

"You must have something to eat, doc," Kate said. "I'm so sorry I go on so long. Couldn't my mate give me the gas?"

"If you wish," the Husky said. "You turn it to the numeral two."

"I see," I said. There was a marker on a dial that turned with a handle.

"_I want it now," _Kate said. She held the mask tight to her muzzle. I turned the dial to number two and when Kate putdown the mask I turned it off. It was very good of the Husky to let me do something.

"Did you do it, darling?" Kate asked. She stroked my wrist.

"Sure."

"You're so lovely." She was a little drunk form the gas.

"I will eat from a bowl in the next room," the Husky said. "You can call me any moment." While the time passed, I watched him eat. Kate was getting very tired.

"Do you think I'll ever have this pup?" she asked.

"Yes, of course you will."

"I try as hard as I can. I push down but it goes away. _There it comes. Give it to me._"

At two o'clock I went out and had lunch. I found some berries in the forest and wolfed them down. The street was all clean now. The day was cloudy but the sun was trying to come through.

I walked up the stairs, stepped out and went down the hall to the delivery room. The door was closed and I knocked. No one answered, so I pushed the door and went it. The Husky sat by Kate. The German Shepherd was doing something at the other end of the room.

"Here is your mate," the Husky said.

"Oh, darling, I have the most wonderful doctor," Kate said in a very strange voice. He's been telling me the most wonderful story and when the pain came to badly he put me all the way out. He's wonderful. You're wonderful, doctor."

"You're drunk," I said.

"I know it," Kate said. "But you shouldn't say it." Then "_Give it to me. Give it to me." _She clutched hold of the mask and breathed short and deep, pantingly, making the respirator click. Then she gave a long sigh and the Husky reached with his left paw and lifted away the mask.

"That was a very big one," Kate said. Her voice was very strange. "I'm not going to die now, Humphrey. I'm past where I was going to die. Aren't you glad?"

"Don't get in that place again."

"I won't. I'm not afraid of it though. I won't die, darling."

"You will not do any such foolishness," the Husky said. "You would not die and leave your mate."

"Oh, no. I won't die. I wouldn't die. It's silly to die. There it comes. _Give it to me."_

After a while, the Husky said, "You go out, Mr. Humphrey, for a few moments and I will make an examination.

"He wants to see how I am doing," Kate said, "You can come back afterward, darling, can't he, Husky?"

"Yes, said the Husky. "I will send word when he can come back."

I went out the door and down the hall to the room where Kate was to be after the pup came. I sat on a chair there and looked at the room. It slowly got dark outside. I wondered why the Husky did not send for me. Maybe it was better if I saw away. He probably wanted me away for a while. I looked at the watch on the wall. If he did not send for me in ten minutes, I would go down anyway.

Poor, poor dear Kate. And this was the price you paid for sleeping together. This was the end of the trap. This was what wolves got for loving each other. Thank God for gas, anyway. What must it have been like before there were anesthetics? I wondered what Lilly and Garth were going to have to go through. I already felt bad for them. Once it started, they were in the mill-race. Kate had a good time of pregnancy. It wasn't bad. She was hardly ever sick. She was not awfully uncomfortable until towards the last. So now they got her in the end. You never got away with anything. Get away hell! It would have been the same if we had been married fifty times. And what if she should die? She won't die. She's just having a bad time. The initial labor is usually protracted. She's only having a bad time. Afterwards, we'd say what a bad time and Kate would say it wasn't so bad. But what if she should die? She can't, I tell you. Don't be a fool. It's just a bad time. It's just nature giving her hell. It's only the first labor, which is always protracted. Yes, but what if she should die? She can't die. Why would she die? What reason is there for her to die? There's just a pup that has to be born, the by-product of good nights in Jasper. It makes trouble and then you look after it and get fond of it maybe. But what if she should die? She won't die. But what if she should die? She won't. She's all right. But what if she should die? She can't die. But what if she should die? Hey, what about what? But what if she should die?

The Husky came into the room.

"How does it go, doctor?"

"It doesn't go," he said, shaking his head.

"What do you advice?"

"There are two things. Either a high forceps delivery which can tear and be quite dangerous besides being possibly bad for the pup, and a Caesarean.

"What is the danger of a Caesarean?" What if she should die!

"It should be no greater than the danger of an ordinary delivery."

"Would you do it yourself?"

"No, I would need to get my owner here. He's a nice guy, and I'm sure that he'll be willing to help. He might take an hour or so. Perhaps a little less."

"What do you think?"

"I would advise a Caesarean operation. If it were my mate, I would do a Caesarean."

"What if you just went on and nothing?"

"You would have to do something eventually. Madame Kate is already losing much of her strength. The sooner we operate now the safer.

"Operate as soon as you can," I said.

"I'll take my owner here." He immediately turned and ran out of sight.

I went into the delivery room. The German Shepherd was with Kate, who lay on the table, big under the sheet, looking very pale and tired.

"Now, it will be all over in an hour. I'm almost done, darling. I'm going to pieces. _Please give me that. _It doesn't work. _Oh, it doesn't work!"_ she screamed. I grabbed the mask and put it over her muzzle.

"Breathe deeply."

"Oh, it doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work! I'm just a fool, Humphrey, but it doesn't work anymore." She began to cry. "Oh, I wanted so to have this pup and not make trouble, and now I'm all done and all gone to pieces and it doesn't work. Oh, darling, it doesn't work at all. I don't care if I die if it will only stop. Oh please, darling, please make it stop. _There it comes. Oh Oh Oh! She breathed sobbingly in the mask. "It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Don't mind me, darling. Please don't cry. I'm just gone all to pieces. You poor sweet. I love you so and I'll be good again. _I'll be good this time. _Can't they give me something? _If they could only give me something."

"I'll make it work. I'll turn it all the way."

"Give it to me now."

I turned the dial all the way and as she breathed hard and deep her hand relaxed on the mask. I shut off the gas and lifted the mask. She came back from a long way away.

"That was lovely, Humphrey. Oh, you're so good to me."

"You be brave, because I can't do that all the time. It might kill you."

"I'm not brave any more, darling. I'm all broken. They've broken me. I know it now."

"Everybody is that way."

"But it's awful. They just keep it up till they break you."

"In an hour it will be over."

"Isn't that lovely? Humphrey, I won't die, will I?"

"No. I promise you won't."

"Because I don't want to die and leave you, but I am so tired of it and I fell I'm going to die."

"Nonsense. Everybody feels that."

"Sometimes, I know I'm going to die."

"You won't. You can't."

"But what if I should?"

"I won't let you."

"Give it to me, quick. _Give it to me!"_

Then afterward, "I won't die. I won't let myself die."

"Of course you won't"

"You'll stay with me?"

"Not to watch it."

"No, just to be there."

"Sure. I'll be there all the time."

"You're so good to me. There, give it to me. Give me some more. _It's not working."_

I turned the dial to three and then four. I wished the Husky would come back. I was afraid of the numbers above two.

Finally, a sweat-covered young man rushed into the room. He took a fleeting look before lifting Kate onto a wheeled stretcher and starting down the hall. The stretcher went rapidly down the hall and into the elevator. I took the stairs, because I was afraid of being boxed up. We went down the hall and to the operating room. The Siberian Husky and the German Shepherd both followed me.

"_They've got to give me something,"_ Kate said. "_They've got to give me something._ Oh please, sir, give me enough to do some good!" The human veterinarian could not understand her, but he did place a mask over Kate's face. I looked through the door and saw the bright small amphitheatre of the operating room.

"You can go in the other door and sit up there," the German Shepherd said to me. There were benches behind a rail that looked won on a white table and the lights. I looked at Kate. The mask was over her face and she was quiet now. Whatever was going through the mask must have had the same effect as a tranquilizer dart.

"They're doing a Caesarean," the Shepherd told me, "You go right in there. Go right in."

"I'm staying outside."

She hurried in. I walked up and down the hall. I was afraid to go in. I looked out the window. It was dark but in the light from the window I could see it was raining. I went into a room at the far end of the hall and looked at the bottles in a glass case. Then I came out and sat in the empty hall and watched the door of the operating room.

The human veterinarian came out followed by the German Shepherd. The man was holding something in his two hands that looked like a freshly skinned rabbit and hurried across the corridor with it and in through another door. I went down to the door he had gone into and found them in the room doing things to the new-born pup. The veterinarian held him up for me to see. He held him by the rear legs and slapped him.

"Is he all right?" I asked the veterinarian. I forgot that he couldn't understand me.

"He's magnificent. He'll weigh two kilos," the German Shepherd replied.

I had no feeling for him. He did not seem to have anything to do with me. I felt no feeling of fatherhood.

"Aren't you proud of your son?" the Shepherd asked. The human veterinarian was washing him and wrapping him in something. I saw the little face and the dark paws, but I did not see him move or hear him whimper. The young human veterinarian was doing something to him again. He looked upset.

"No," I said. "He nearly killed his mother."

"It isn't the little darling's fault. Didn't you want a boy?"

"No," I said. The veterinarian was busy with him. He held him up by the rear paws and slapped him. I did not wait to see it. I went out in the hall. I could go in now and see. I went in the door and a little way down the gallery. The German Shepherd motioned for me to come down to where she was. I shook my head. I could see enough where I saw.

I thought Kate was dead. She looked dead. Her face was gray, the part of it that I could see. The veterinarian came into the room and started sewing up the great long, thick-edged wound. The Husky was on the floor, whipping off the blood. I knew as I watched I could have watched it all, but I was glad I hadn't. I do not think that I could have watched him cut, but I watched the wound closed into a high welted ridge with quick skilful-looking stitches like a cobbler's, and was glad. When the wound was closed I went out into the hall and walked up and down again. After a while, the Husky came out of the room.

"How is she?"

"She is all right. Did you watch?"

The veterinarian also came out of the room. He looked tired and headed to the restroom without taking a look at me.

"The incision looked very long."

"You thought so?"

"Yes. Will that scar flatten out?"

"Oh, yes."

After a while they brought out the wheeled stretcher and took it very rapidly down the hallway to the elevator. I went along besides it and finally got the courage to ride the elevator. Kate was moaning. Downstairs they put her in the bed in her room. I sat on the floor at the foot of her bed. The German Shepherd came into the room. I got up and stood by the bed. It was dark in the room. Kate put out her paw. "Hello, Humphrey," she said. Her voice was very weak and tired.

"Hello, you sweet."

"What sort of pup was it?"

"Sh—don't talk," the Shepherd said.

"A boy. He's long and wide and dark."

"Is he all right?"

"Yes," I said, "He's fine."

I saw the Shepherd glance at me strangely.

"I'm awfully tired," Kate said, "And I hurt like crazy. Are you alright, Humphrey?"

"I'm fine. Don't talk."

"You were lovely to me. Oh, darling, I hurt dreadfully. What does he look like?"

"He looks like a…"

"You must go out," the Shepherd interrupted, "Madame Kate must not talk."

"I'll be outside."

"Go and get something to eat."

"No, I'll be outside." I rubbed my nose against Kate's. She was very gray and weak and tired.

"May I speak to you?" I said to the nurse. She came out into the hall with me. I walked a little down the hall.

"What's the matter with the puppy?"

"Didn't you know?"

"No."

"He wasn't alive."

"_He was dead?"_

"They couldn't start him breathing. The cord was caught around his neck or something."

"So, he's dead."

"Yes. It's such a shame. He was such a fine big pup—an exemplary Alpha. I thought you knew."

"No," I said. "You better go back in with Madame."

I sat down on the chair in front of a table overlooking a large window. I could see nothing but the dark and the rain falling across the light from the window. So that was it. The pup was dead. That was why the human veterinarian looked so tired. But why had they acted the way they did in the room with him? They supposed he would come around and start breathing probably. He had never been alive. Except in Kate. I'd felt him kick there often enough. But I hadn't for a week. Maybe he was chocked all the time. Poor little pup. I wished that I was chocked like that. No I didn't. Still, there would not be all this dying to go through. Now Kate would die. That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you without your pack they killed you. Or they killed you gratuitously like my father. Or they killed you with disease like my mother. But they killed you in the end. You could count on that. Stay around and they would kill you.

So now I sat out in the hall and waited to hear how Kate was. No one came out, so after a while, I went to the door and opened it very softly and looked in. I could not see at first because there was a bright light in the hall and it was dark in the room. Then I saw the German Shepherd sitting by the bed and Kate's head on a pillow, and she was all flat under the sheet. The Shepherd put her paws to her muzzle, then stood up and came to the door.

"How is she?" I asked.

"She's all right," the Shepherd said. "You should go and have your supper and then come back if you wish."

I went down the hall and then down the stairs and out the door of the hospital and down the dark street to a garbage dump behind a café. The old coyote I saw earlier today was also rummaging through the trash. I found an old piece of veal and ate it. I was not thinking at all but reading a piece of newspaper lying around. It was about more trouble on Wall Street. It was hot in the dump, and it smelled bad. I knew I had to get back. I walked through the rain up to the hospital.

Upstairs, I met the German Shepherd coming down the hall.

"I was just looking for you," she said. Something dropped inside me.

"What is wrong?"

"Madame Kate has had a hemorrhage."

"Can I go in?"

"No, not yet. My mate and my owner are with her."

"Is it dangerous?"

"It's _very_ dangerous." The Shepherd went into the room and shut the door. I sat outside in the hall. Everything was gone inside of me. I did not think. I could not think. Everything was gone inside of me. I did not think. I could not think. I knew she was going to die and I prayed that she would not. Don't let her die. Oh, God, please don't let her die. I'll do anything for you if you won't don't let her die. Please, please, please dear God, don't let her die. God please make her not die. I'll do anything you say if don't you don't let her die. You took the baby but don't let her die. That was all right but don't let her die. Please, please, dear God, don't let her die.

The German Shepherd opened the door and motioned with her paw for me to come. I followed her into the room. Kate did not look up when I came in. I went over to the side of the bed. The human veterinarian and his Siberian Husky were on the other side. Kate looked at me and smiled. I bent down over the bed and started to cry.

"Poor Humphrey," Kate said very softly. She looked gray.

"You're all right, Kate," I said. "You're going to be all right."

"I'm going to die," she said; then waited and said, "I hate it."

I took her paw.

"Don't touch me," she said. I let go of her paw. She smiled. "Poor darling. You touch me all you want."

"You'll be all right, Kate. I know you'll be all right."

"I'd love to see my sister and parents, but I'm afraid I can't."

"Do you want me to get the priest's dog or anyone to come and see you?"

"Just you," she said. Then a little later, "I'm not afraid. I just hate it."

"Do you want me to do anything, Kate? Can I get you anything?"

"Kate smiled, "No." Then a little later, "You won't do our things with another girl, or say the same things, will you?"

"Never."

"I want you to have girls, though."

"I don't want them."

"You are talking too much," the Husky said. "Mr. Humphrey, you must go out. You can come back again later. Madame Kate, you are not going to die. You must not be silly."

"All right," Kate said. "I'll come and stay with you nights," she said. It was very hard for her to talk.

"Please go out of the room," the Husky said, "You cannot talk." Kate winked at me, her face gray. "I'll be right outside," I said.

"Don't worry, darling," Kate said. "I'm not a bit afraid. It's just a dirty trick."

"You dear, brave sweet."

I waited outside in the hall. I waited a long time. The German Shepherd came to the door and came over to me. "I'm afraid Madame Kate is very ill," she said. "I'm afraid for her."

"Is she dead?"

"No, but she is unconscious."

It seems she had one hemorrhage after another. They just couldn't stop it. I went into the room and stayed with Kate until she died. She was unconscious all the time, and it did not take her very long to die.

Outside the room, in the hall, I spoke to the Husky, "Is there anything I can do tonight?"

"No. There is nothing to do. Can I take you to your den?"

"No, thank you. I am going to stay here a while."

"I know there is nothing to say. I cannot tell you…"

"No," I said. "There's nothing to say."

"Good-night," he said. "I cannot take you to your den?"

"No, thank you."

"It was the only thing to do," he said. "The operation proved…"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said.

"I would like to take you to your den."

"No, thank you."

"What about taking you to the train?"

"_No, thank you!"_

He went down the hall. I went to the door of the room.

"You can't come in now," the German Shepherd yelled.

"Yes, I can," I said with a gritty voice.

"You can't come in yet."

"You get out," I barked, "And take your owner with you."

But after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn't any good. I tried to howl for her, but it was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to my den in the rain.

THE END

I own neither _A Farewell to Arms _nor _Alpha and Omega_. They are the products of Ernest Hemingway and Lionsgate respectively. This fanfic was based on book five of _A Farewell to Arms._ You can easily grasp Hemingway's literary style and approach, even through this short passage. Hemingway favored a simple, direct style with basic sentences, making his books very easy to read. Although he sometimes uses run-ons and fragments, the passages are surprisingly easy to read. What's even more amazing, however, is the power of these simple words. They leave a powerful impression, don't they? I highly recommend _A Farewell to Arms _to anyone.

Please rate & review. Yes, I know that this is probably the longest one-shot ever written. I'm still working on my other story. Stay tuned.


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